NGO empowers orphans, vulnerable children in FCT

Innovative Solution to Development (ISD) Initiative, a community based organisation, has disbursed funds to 209 caregivers of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Bwari Area Council of the FCT.

ISD’s team Lead for Bwari, Mr Nicholas Ugbenyen, said the event was one of its several interventions, adding that the current beneficiaries were selected from 3,500 households in communities within the council.

He said some of the recipients were already business owners seeking to expand while some were just starting out.

Ugbenyen added that the organisation conducted feasibility studies in collaboration with the beneficiaries before drafting business plans for each recipient before disbursing the money.

He pointed out that there are systems in place to monitor and evaluate the activities of the beneficiaries to ensure they are consistent with the expectations of ISD and their donors.

The OVC Desk Officer for the council, Mr Adam Adam, lauded ISD for the initiative, saying that more support was required from well meaning individuals and organisations for OVC.

He said that any support from organisations and individuals would impact positively on the lives of such children and their caregivers or parents.

Mrs Ugonna Udobi, one of the recipients of the initial set of intervention, said though she “is not bound to ISD by tribe or religion, but I am a beneficiary of their goodwill which has transformed my life”.

Mrs Hajara Aliyu, another beneficiary, said she supports her husband and children with the proceeds from the business ISD helped her to establish.

She admonished the current set of recipients to make judicious use of the assistance to improve their economic standing.

ISD carries out its activities with support from its partners like the Centre for Disease Control, Institute for Human Virology Nigeria and others.

Adesunbo Onitiri, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Lagos Central Senatorial candidate in the last elections, has flayed the Federal Government’s order on Nigerians to surrender their guns before June 1. He said the order should be reconsidered in view of the growing insurgency and kidnappings in the country.